Publishable Stills from Video - Guest Post by Daniel J. Cox

Intro by Skip Cohen

The other morning I woke up to a loud crash. I stayed in bed for a few minutes trying to think of what fell somewhere in the house. I smiled and went back to sleep.  It was just another paradigm shift! 

Technology is changing everything and along with it, Panasonic's LUMIX tag line couldn't be more appropriate...

In this guest post, courtesy of Daniel J Cox, he's returning to the roots of a blog post he wrote in 2009 about the convergence of Video and Stills. Shooting with a Panasonic LUMIX GH4 he's pulling 8 megapixel stills from the video of the polar bear below.  The quality is amazing.

After reading Daniel's post, check out the experience Bob Coates shared just a few weeks ago and then, Joseph Linaschke's post shooting at the Sonoma Speedway.

Daniel should be on your radar along with all of the LUMIX Luminaries. You'll find everybody hanging out at the LUMIX Lounge, just a click away.

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Panasonic is steamrolling the competition with their new 4K Photo Mode that’s available on three different Lumix cameras, GH4, LX100 and FZ1000. I’ve dreamed of this idea since the $50,000 Red One was announced nearly ten years ago and I first blogged about my prediction of the convergence of Video and Stills in a post from April 30th, 2009 titled Daniel’s First Film- A New Face in Town. Panasonic’s introduction of their new 4K Photo Mode finally makes this capability available to the masses. 4K Photo Mode gives  the photographer the ability to shoot video at 3o Frames Per Second and pull individual, 8 megapixel still images from the video clip. I tried it for the first time this past week while working with Polar Bears International and the Arctic Documentary Project in Churchill and it is nothing short of incredible.

The video above was captured using a Lumix GH4 in 4K Video Mode. The lens was a 100-300mm zoom and I was NOT on a tripod. That’s the reason you see less than smooth, video panning. Ideally I would have liked to have been on tripod but this opportunity came quickly and was a simple trial in my mind.  The test was impressive, even more so due to no tripod.

Below are two frames I captured from the video above using Apple’s Aperture. A post detailing how to grab a specific frame from Aperture will be coming in the future. But for now, notice how in the first image I’ve selected, the bear’s breath is highlighted in the shadow. I was able to scrub through the video clip to capture the exact moment the breath was exhaled and even the best frame from that one second opportunity that the camera caught 30 frames of.

The second photo is again from the same video and I chose a frame where the bear’s head was at the top of the arc. A polar bear swings its head up and down as it walks which could make it difficult to get a razor sharp, still frame. By shooting at 1/500th of a second shutter speed and choosing a frame from when the bear’s head was at the top of the arc, where it’s perfectly still for a split second, I was able to obtain a very sharp image.

The ability to shoot at a higher shutter speed than is typical for video gave me the ability to capture sharp still photos. Generally, when shooting video, you are shooting at a shutter speed of 1/30th, 1/50th, or 1/60th. of a second. These shutter speeds are actually essential when capturing video to be shown specifically as video and not still capture. The video I shot above was captured with the GH4 attached to a 100-300mm zoom and the lens was at about the 250mm range. That being the case, those who travel with us know that I regularly talk about the need to get your shutter speed up, equal to or greater than the length of the lens you are shooting. Higher shutter speeds provide sharper images which is essential when shooting in the 4K Video Mode.

To read the rest of Daniel's post and to comment, just click the link below.  In the rest of his post he went into some terrific detail to help you understand the creative potential in 4K mode.

More Great Content at Daniel's Blog